MARBLETOWN, N.Y. -- The principal of Marbletown Elementary School, a kindergarten teacher and the school's head secretary have been "temporarily removed" from the building, according to a school board member and the president of the Parent-Teacher Association.

The principal is William Cafiero, who did not return a reporter's phone message on Saturday. The teacher, identified to the Freeman as Mindy Shaw, referred to the matter as "a worthy story" in a brief phone conversation with a reporter on Saturday but refused to elaborate when contacted later. The secretary's name could not be learned.

Rochelle Victor, the head of the parent-teacher group, said the matter did not involve any criminal acts.

Advertisement

"To help squelch any rumors, the reason for their removal has nothing to do with anything that put our children in harm's way," she said.

Rosario Agostaro, the superintendent of the Rondout Valley School District, confirmed on Friday that three people had been removed from Marbletown Elementary School, but he would not identify them or provide a reason, other than to say the district is investigating "suspected irregularities" in connection with the "observation and evaluation" of staff at the school.

Agostaro said two of the three were reassigned within the district, and the other is working outside the district.

"No one was fired," he said.

Agostaro did not return a Freeman phone message on Saturday after the newspaper learned Cafiero, Shaw and the head secretary were the affected employees.

In MAY 2001, Cafiero was removed as the Rondout Valley High School principal after an independent investigator looked into claims that he sexually harassed two teachers, both of whom he had social relationships with.

Cafiero was classified as an "administrator on special assignment" until July 2003. He then was suspended by the school district for two weeks after the state Education Department ruled there was sufficient evidence to merit sexual harassment charges again him. Soon after, though, Cafiero was reinstated as high school principal.

As to the current situation at Marbletown Elementary School, Victor said many parents who have children there have expressed frustration at being kept in the dark.

"I have a lot of concerns," she said. "I knew that this happened on Wednesday, and we, as parents, didn't get information until today (Friday), at the end of the day."

Board of Education member David O'Halloran said letters were sent home with students on Friday.

"There's a pretty big outrage coming from parents feeling that they weren't informed soon enough or with enough information," Victor said. "People are frustrated that there are four weeks of school left and with the timing of this whole thing."

Victor said parents especially are questioning why the kindergarten teacher was told to leave, and she said it has affected the students.

"Their routine has been interrupted. That's very problematic for 5- and 6-year-olds," the Accord mother said.

O'Halloran said the district administration told Board of Education members about an investigation before the three employees were removed but that the board did not learn the removals had been carried out until after the fact. He referred to the removals as "a district decision led by Agostaro."

"We were informed a week before that there was an investigation of three employees, (but) we found out the nature of everything ... after they were removed from their positions," O'Halloran said.

He said he does not support the removal of the three staff members amid an ongoing investigation.

"I don't like what they did, and maybe I'm not on board, but at this point, I don't think we're doing the right thing," he said. "I find it completely unnecessary at this time.

"I believe the investigation can be done while they perform their jobs," he said.

"I do not believe that these 'irregularities' affect the safety or welfare of our students or their achievement, and I don't see why they can't continue doing their duties while they continue to investigate this matter."

O'Halloran, who chairs the school board's Budget Committee, said he also has concerns about how this could impact the district's 2013-14 budget, especially if the three remain out of their positions and new staff members are brought in to replace them.

For the time being, he said, the district has brought in a substitute principal at a cost of about $400 per day and a substitute teacher for about $110 a day. He said the district has moved the secretary to the high school guidance office.

The president of the school board, Christopher Kelder, refused to comment on the matter, but others said it has upset the school community.

"I find it very coincidental ... that this happened the day after the budget vote and the budget passed, so it's obviously something that was in the works prior to the budget vote," said Teresa Carlucci, a former Marbletown PTA president and a Stone Ridge mother.

Even though Carlucci's third-grader did not have Shaw as a teacher, she said others have described the woman as a "great teacher."

"It's such a shame," she said. "Those are little 5- and 6-year-old kids who depend on routine, and suddenly their teacher is gone and parents don't know why."

A school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, and Carlucci said it should be well-attended.